Chapter IX: Tunis Between 1800 and 1837

The hostilities between the Regency of Tunis and the French Republic only ceased in February 1802. The Bey, however, soon managed to pick other quarrels with his European allies and tributaries. The Danish Consul fell into disgrace for offering Hamouda some arms mounted in copper gilt instead of gold, and thirty notable Spaniards were relegated to the common prison because two gun-boats sent from Madrid contained eighteen guns instead of twenty-four. It was only in 1804 that these unfortunate persons were liberated, and then only on the Government of His Most Catholic Majesty humbly tendering for the Bey’s acceptance a large money present and two _chebecks_, each carrying twenty-six guns. The Dutch fleet also arrived with an envoy charged “to fix the annual payment to the Pacha and if possible to compound for it by giving the Bey a lump sum in ready money.” Under these circumstances it is hardly surprising that Hamouda Bey, proud of his diplomatic successes with Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and the United States, embarked on a deadly conflict with his neighbour the Dey of Algiers which lasted till 1809.

No sooner had a peace been signed with Algeria than a fresh complication arose with Spain. The Bey informed the Spanish _junta_ that unless the debts of the Consul were paid he should order his corsairs to attack all the Spanish ships they met with, and even to ravage the coasts of Spain. The difficulty was only settled by the payment of a large sum of money. In 1810 the Bey sent Muhamed Djelouli to London to complain of the capture of French vessels by English ships on the Tunisian coasts, and the matter appears to have been satisfactorily arranged. During a revolt which broke out towards the end of the following year nearly all the Turkish troops formerly so powerful in the Regency were annihilated. Peace was hardly restored when England undertook the task of negotiating a treaty for Sicily in consideration of a present of 100,000 dollars. The first mission failing to secure its objects, the whole Mediterranean squadron under Admiral Freemantle arrived at Goletta. The scope of this demonstration was not only to conclude the Sicilian treaty, but to support an endeavour of Lady William Bentinck to purchase the release of a number of Christian slaves. After much hesitation Hamouda Bey agreed to a convention with Sicily which was to have effect as long as the English occupation of that island continued, and nearly 500 slaves were released. An attempt subsequently made under the auspices of France to obtain the liberation of the Neapolitan captives was not equally successful. The Bey refused to accept less than 400,000 dollars _for a treaty_ and the slaves, and as the Neapolitan envoy could only offer 150,000, the negotiations fell through. Hamouda Pacha died suddenly on the 15th September 1814. Native annalists are not agreed as to whether his coffee cup or the snuffbox of his secretary contained the poison which killed him.

Hamouda was succeeded by his brother Othman. Three months later this unfortunate prince was massacred with his two sons at the instigation of his cousin and successor Mahmoud. On the same day his wife gave birth to a son. The offspring of Othman Bey remained a prisoner in the Bardo Palace till 1855, when he was released by Muhamed Bey, his namesake. Muhamed, son of Othman Bey, only died in 1868. The reign of Mahmoud Bey was destined to see the end of the system of piracy, the remembrance of which will be for ever associated with the very name of the Barbary States. On the 12th April 1816, Lord Exmouth arrived at Goletta. A few months before, the Tunisian captain Mustapha Raïs had attacked one of the islets of the coast of Sardinia, and carried into captivity every man, woman, and child inhabiting it. The Great Powers now decided that armed force was to take the place of cajolery and bribes. In accordance with this determination Lord Exmouth demanded the abolition of Christian slavery. It happened that at this very time Caroline Princess of Wales was enjoying the splendid hospitality of Mahmoud Bey in his city palace. Neither party seemed inclined to yield, and matters assumed a very threatening aspect. The mediation of the royal guest was invoked in vain; Lord Exmouth was inexorable. The Princess sent the greater part of her baggage to Goletta, the British merchants hastened to embark on board the vessels of the squadron, the men-of-war were prepared for action, and the Bey did his best to collect all available reinforcements. The excitement in Tunis became intense, and a pacific solution was considered almost impossible.

On the 16th April Lord Exmouth, accompanied by Mr. Consul-General Oglander and his staff, proceeded to the Bardo Palace. The flag-staff of the British Agency was previously lowered to indicate a resolution to resort to an appeal to arms in case of failure, and the Princess of Wales expected every hour to be arrested as a hostage. The antecedents of the Bey were not precisely calculated to assuage her alarm, but Mahmoud sent one of his officers to assure her that come what may he should never dream of violating the Moslem laws of hospitality. While the messenger was still with her, Lord Exmouth entered the room and announced the satisfactory termination of his mission. On the following morning the Bey signed a treaty whereby in the name of the Regency he abolished Christian slavery for ever throughout his dominions. Amongst the reasons which induced the Bey to yield to the pressure used by Lord Exmouth was the detention of the Sultan’s envoy bearing the imperial firman and robe of investiture at Syracuse. The Neapolitan government would not allow him to depart until the news of the successful result of the British mission had arrived, and Mahmoud felt it impossible to forego the official recognition of his suzerain.

The visit of the wife of George IV. to Tunis is hardly yet quite forgotten. The Bey gave her a guard of honour composed of sixty memelouks, and during her stay a coach and six was always kept in readiness for her use. The most prominent member of her _suite_ was Count Bergami di Brescia, who suggested a variety of amusements, which comprised a fête champêtre amongst the orange groves of the Manouba, and picnics on horseback to the ruins of Carthage, Utica, and Zaghouan. The Princess was extremely displeased at Lord Exmouth’s inopportune arrival, and was not even consoled by the salute of 101 guns fired on her departure for Greece the day after the signature of the treaty.

The splendours of the reception, however, did not prevent the diplomatic victory of Lord Exmouth being regarded as a national humiliation by the Tunisians. On the 1st of May the troops rose in open revolt and seized both Tunis and Goletta. The refusal of the Bey’s cousins to accept the proffered crown alone prevented the deposition and possible death of Mahmoud. As it was, the insurrection could only be quelled by numerous executions. Ten days later the Sultan’s commissioner arrived, escorted by an English brig. The investiture of the Bey and his son was attended by more than ordinary ceremonial, but it nearly occasioned a serious riot on account of Mr. Consul Oglander refusing unexpectedly to kiss the hand of the Bey’s son and heir. This episode engendered interminable correspondence. Mahmoud wrote angry letters to the Prince Regent and Sir Thomas Maitland on the subject of what he styled “the irregular and turbulent conduct of the said Consul Oglander.” The following is the Bey’s complaint in his own words:—“Setting aside that it is improper to offend against the usages and customs of any court great or small in matters of etiquette Mr. Oglander has exposed himself from his mere pride and caprice to receive a violent and public affront on the 20th inst. without its being in my power to prevent it if it had not been for the prudence and presence of mind of my son who stopped the general irritation upon his having in the most marked manner together with his Vice-Consul Alexis Tulin refused to kiss the hand of my son and heir Hasan Bey, sitting on the throne and receiving then solemnly our sacred ceremony, his investiture with the title of Bashaw from His Highness the Grand Sultan, upon oath administered to all the Divan and grandees of the Regency present at the ceremony, the Bashaw having been so saluted as is always the custom from time immemorial by the French, Spanish and Danish Consuls, who preceded Mr. Oglander, and also by the other Consuls who followed him.” In the result Mr. Oglander’s conduct was disapproved by his superiors.

The Bey on several occasions endeavoured the next two years to ignore the principal provision of Lord Exmouth’s treaty. Early in 1817 the Tunisian Admiral with some privateers actually appeared _in the English Channel_ and there captured a Bremen ship. The crew were taken to Tunis as prisoners, and on the Tunisians endeavouring to sell their prize in England, their ships were detained. A most acrimonious correspondence followed, and finally the Bey was compelled to surrender the Bremen sailors, and to sign on the 19th October a declaration that his privateers could “not enter the channels or narrow seas of England.” To accomplish this result the visit of several ships-of-war to Goletta became necessary.

Two years later the appearance of a Dutch fleet emphasised the resolution arrived at by the King of Holland to submit no longer to the degradation of paying blackmail under the name of tribute to his ally the Bey of Tunis. Three months afterwards Admirals Jurien and Freemantle communicated to Mahmoud Pacha the irrevocable decision of the Powers at Aix-la-Chapelle, “to enforce the cessation of a system of piracy, which is not only contrary to the best interests of all States, but is also fatal to the prosperity of those which practise it.” The Bey’s answer was eminently conciliatory, but he prudently opened the entrance of the Porto-Farina lake in order to place his fleet of corsairs out of gunshot in a case of emergency. In 1820, an envoy of the Sultan once more imposed a peace between Tunis and Algiers, which he termed humorously “_une paix véritablement définitive cette fois_.” Pursuant to instructions received from Constantinople, Mahmoud greatly increased his fleet, and on the holy war against Greece being proclaimed, a Tunisian division under the corsair Mustapha Raïs joined the squadron of the Captain Pacha in the Archipelago.

The year 1823 is known as “the year of the hats.” Acting on some mysterious inspiration, the Bey declared that any Jew detected wearing the ordinary European headdress should be severely punished. This order led to the arrest of an Israelite merchant from Gibraltar, whose protest was strongly supported by the British Consul-General. The Bey at first was inexorable and announced his intention of expelling all Jews from the country who would not wear a black coif. A rupture with England was only averted by the Bey’s consenting to intermeddle no further with the costume of Jews enjoying the protection of Great Britain. Two Tuscan Jews presumed on this concession, and appearing in beaver hats were seized and soundly bastinadoed. This untoward event hastened the conclusion of a convention between the Bey of Tunis and the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

A few months after this dispute had been amicably adjusted, a much more serious difference arose. It was discovered that some passengers on board an English ship were really Greek slaves. The British Consul demurred to their disembarkation; and the Bey seized them by force. In consequence of this outrage to the flag an English squadron arrived off Goletta on Christmas Day 1823, but we obtained nothing more than profuse promises as to the future. On the 28th March following Sidi Mahmoud died.

His successor Hossein Bey sent an embassy to Paris to congratulate Charles X., and offer several costly presents to the French King. Like his predecessor Hossein, he did not fail to furnish several ships to the Turkish fleet. In 1827 the war between France and Algeria broke out. Although the Bey maintained a strict neutrality, he did not neglect to keep his army in a state of efficiency. Under these circumstances the _tribute_ offered by Sweden in 1827 proved very acceptable. It consisted of a cargo of wood and no less than 125 cannons. The attitude of Hossein in the matter of Algiers can be easily understood. In the first place, he was not sorry to see the humiliation of an inveterate and almost hereditary enemy; and secondly, he hoped that a successor to the Bey of Algiers would be selected from amongst the descendants of Hossein Ben Ali,—an idea which the French Consul-General lost no opportunity of encouraging. It was under these circumstances that the treaty with France of the 8th August 1830 was executed. A clause, for some time kept secret, ceded to France a conspicuous spot on the site of the Carthaginian Byrsa or citadel for the erection of a memorial chapel in honour of Louis IX.[31] The fifth article of the convention restored to France the coral fishery as far as Cape Négre; but the Bey protested against it, and some particulars of the conditions agreed on were never carried into effect.

Here all published annals of the Regency cease, but the voluminous records of the British Consulate-General afford an easy means of continuing them. The period I am about to speak of is undoubtedly one of the most interesting epochs in its history, and I regret I am able only to refer briefly to the most important events. The situation between 1830 and 1880 can be summed up in a few words. France had already begun to cast a longing eye on the Regency. The Beys of Tunis knew it, and in the recesses of their heart hated France and Frenchmen accordingly. At the same time they dreaded complete absorption in the Ottoman Empire, but clung with childish affection to the quasi-independence of their vassalship. England, perfectly aware of the maritime and strategic importance of the country, constantly held the balance between the Porte and France, and time after time prevented by prompt diplomatic action the much-dreaded extinction of the Tunisian Regency. At last a time came when Prince Bismarck said to M. Waddington at Berlin, “Why do you not go to Carthage?” France was not long in taking the hint; and as the old veto of England was wanting, Carthage was taken and Tunis absorbed in Algeria. The tale of this taking is the immediate subject of this book; the diplomacy which postponed that taking for fifty years is the essential feature of Tunisian history during the past half-century. As a study of political tactics, I have found it so interesting, that I regret being able to devote only a few pages to it.

In 1831 the Chargé d’Affaires, M. Lesseps, in the name of France, offered to intrust to the Bey’s brothers the Beylical governments of Constantine and Oran. His proposition was gladly accepted, and a large tribute agreed to. Tunisian troops had been already despatched to Oran when the news arrived that the French Government had repudiated the arrangement. A temporary arrangement was afterwards suggested, but the Bey rejected it and claimed a large sum he alleged having given to M. Lesseps to “bind the bargain.” Two years later, Sir Thomas Reade (British Consul-General from 1824) supported a complaint of his Sardinian colleague that the Bey had caused sixty of his Italian servants to receive each 150 strokes of the bastinado for “delaying the preparation of his supper.”

French squadrons and frigates are now reported as frequently arriving at Goletta, but their visits were generally followed by the appearance of ships from Malta. At times our influence was eclipsed, but it generally became predominant again when our vessels anchored in the Gulf. The intricacies of this political rivalry were not, however, to perplex much longer Hossein Bey, who, in spite of the complaint of his European attendants, seems to have been a just and kindly man. In reporting his death on the 20th May 1835, Sir T. Reade wrote: “The poor Bey sent for me yesterday to offer his last adieu; but when I arrived, although he recognised me instantly, he was unable to speak. I was the only Consul he sent for. Upon several occasions latterly when I called upon him, he never omitted expressing his most anxious wishes for the continuation of that good harmony which has latterly so happily subsisted between his Government and England.”

Hossein Bey was succeeded by his brother, Sidi Mustapha, who at once addressed a friendly letter to William IV., and expressed an earnest desire to maintain the most cordial relations with England. A mission was sent forthwith to demand the caftan at Constantinople, and at the same time to counteract if possible an idea which was supposed to be entertained of incorporating the island of Jerba in the Pachalik of Tripoli. “The envoy takes with him,” writes Sir Thomas Reade, “presents to a very large amount, nearly two millions of Tunisian piastres, consisting of Spanish dollars, the conveyance of which alone from the Bardo to the Goletta required forty-two mules; a vessel loaded with thirty very fine horses with rich caparisons, and another with negro slaves, 200,000 red Tunisian caps, a great supply of otto of roses and jessamine, a quantity of jewellery, many swords, guns, and pistols, besides an enormous quantity of Tunisian butter in jars, which is much esteemed at Constantinople, and a letter of introduction to Lord Ponsonby.” Either the butter or Lord Ponsonby touched the Caliph’s heart: Sidi Mustapha got his caftan as a pacha of three tails, and the status of the Regency remained unaltered. In May 1836 a new French Consul-General named Schewbel arrived. He persistently refused, by order of the French Government, to kiss Sidi Mustapha’s hand on presenting his credentials. As the Bey had “held out his hand to be kissed in open Divan,” the conduct of M. Schewbel was considered a gross affront. After long and anxious deliberation, the Bey resolved to terminate the _vexata quæstio_ by abolishing altogether the ceremonial of _baisemain_ as far as the European Consuls were concerned. A French squadron soon after arrived, and the Bey was invited in a mysterious manner to invoke its assistance against some undefined project of the Porte. Sidi Mustapha declined, and as usual hastened to inform Lord Palmerston of his dilemma. The French continued their efforts to wean the Bey from his Turkish allegiance, but the defeat of the first French expedition against Constantine prevented his taking any decided step. In December 1836 a riot occurred amongst the Maltese, and the Bey (whose sympathies were less English than those of his brother) decreed the banishment of the whole colony _en masse_, and was with great difficulty prevented from carrying his order into execution. Sidi Mustapha continued to weakly waver between the French and the Porte, and the French and the English, till October 1839, when he died.